Garwood, Ian2020-08-172020-08-172020-06-15https://necsus-ejms.org/from-video-essay-to-video-monograph-indy-vinyl-as-academic-book/https://mediarep.org/handle/doc/15275Sarah Barrow argues that the video essay provides a ‘viable alternative to the academic book’. This article explores that claim, considering how a video essay-based project can pursue a single topic in the man-ner of a monograph. The case study is Indy Vinyl, my collection of video essays and writing about vinyl records in American Independ-ent Cinema. I argue that an approach informed by traditional schol-arly values should be augmented by more exploratory thinking, when moving from written to practice-based forms of film criticism.engUSAIndependent-KinoVideoessayFilmanalyseDigitale FilmwissenschaftDigitale GeisteswissenschaftenMethodologieAmerican Independent Cinemaaudiovisual essayDigital Humanitiesfilm studiesvideo essayvideographic criticismvinyl79110.25969/mediarep/143062213-0217